You are here

Dr. Lynnae C. Quick

Geologist

Center for Earth and Planetary Studies

Dr. Quick attended North Carolina A&T State University, receiving a B.S., summa cum laude, in Physics in 2005, followed by an M.S. in Physics (Astrophysics concentration) from The Catholic University of America in 2009. She received an M.A. and Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Johns Hopkins University in 2011 and 2013, respectively. From 2013 to 2015, Dr. Quick was a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow in the Planetary Geodynamics Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, after which she worked as a Research Scientist for the Planetary Science Institute (PSI). In 2017, she joined the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies as a staff scientist.

Dr. Quick’s research focuses on volcanism and magmatism throughout the solar system, specifically as it relates to cryovolcanism on the icy moons of the outer solar system. She also studies volcanic processes on Venus, Ceres, and the Moon. Much of this work involves theoretical modeling of the heat transfer and dynamics associated with magma migration within these bodies. In the case of our solar system’s icy moons, she also produces thermal models to investigate the evolution and maintenance of their subsurface oceans, and evaluates their potential to serve as analogs for cold, H2O-rich exoplanets. Current projects include the formation of volcanic domes on Venus and Europa, the potential for geological activity on cold, H2O-rich super-Earths, studies of lunar volcanism, and geological processes on asteroid Ceres.

Dr. Quick is a member of the Science Team for NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission, serving as a co-investigator for the Europa Imaging System (EIS), a dual-camera imager that will fly on the Europa Clipper spacecraft. She is also an Associate Science Team Member on NASA’s Dawn Mission, a member of NASA’s Roadmap for Ocean Worlds (ROW) Team, and a member of NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI), where she is a co-investigator on the Toolbox for Research and Exploration (TREX) team. Dr. Quick is a past recipient of the Johns Hopkins University Randolph W. Bromery Fellowship and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) Fellowship, as well as the NASA Astrobiology Early Career Collaboration Award, administered by the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI). She was also recently awarded a NASA Early Career Fellowship, granted by NASA's Science Mission Directorate to early career researchers based upon “the merit of their current research, scientific record, and promise as a member of the planetary science community”.